Originally Posted by
Beagle
I agree SylvesterCat, BP's food offer is quite substantially better than ZEL and I have never understood why ZEL or Caltex have never had 98 Octane when many higher performance European cars require this fuel. Go figure ? Its like they have their head in the sand in this regard. ZEL have been the least extreme in their "milking" of motorists with the premium they've asked for 95 Octane but with price display coming its clear that further pressure is coming on their 95 Octane fuel margin. Just annualising apparent forecast 4th quarter margin's gives an interesting heads-up into possible earnings downside for FY21. Start factoring in reduced margins from premium fuel, ever increasing competition for the unmanned minnow station players, Govt action of wholesale pricing and requirements for increased jet fuel storage at Wiri and the steady roll-out of EV's, I agree 100%, the downside risk looks quite significant.
More concerning as you suggest is their cost structure and I really don't think one can rely on management to be proactive in cutting their cloth to suit the new reality that appears to be rapidly unfolding. Management have a history of "shocking" the market with downgrades both to earnings and dividends so anyone relying on 40 cps fully imputed annual dividends is taking a big risk as to its sustainability.
I can easily foresee that 3.5 cpl margin coming down to ~ 2 cpl in FY21.